Dollar declines on Obama budget optimism

“I am confident we can get our fiscal situation dealt with,” Obama said at a news conference in Bangkok, where he began a three-nation trip. House Speaker John Boehner said Republicans are willing to put revenue on the table in exchange for spending cuts after Nov. 16 discussions with Obama, which he called “constructive.”

“The U.S. dollar is still the main funding currency of the world,” Hans Redeker, head of foreign-exchange strategy at Morgan Stanley in London, told Maryam Nemazee on Bloomberg Television’s “The Pulse” today. “When you have more information that we can deal with the fiscal cliff, then it is going to work initially against the dollar, especially versus higher-yielding currencies.”

The dollar fell as sales of previously owned U.S. homes climbed in October, indicating gains in the real-estate market are being sustained by cheap borrowing costs.

Japan’s currency dropped against all but one of its major peers after Kyodo News reported Liberal Democratic Party leader Shinzo Abe will choose someone who favors inflation targets as the next Bank of Japan governor. The BOJ will end a two-day policy meeting tomorrow.

Biggest Decline

The yen last week suffered its biggest decline against the dollar since February as Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda dissolved the lower house of the parliament, paving the way for elections that polls show his Democratic Party of Japan will lose. Abe indicated he would consider asking the BOJ to directly buy the nation’s construction bonds if he becomes the next prime minister, Kyodo News cited him as saying on Nov. 17.

The Nikkei newspaper reported today that 25 percent of respondents in an opinion poll favor Abe’s LDP in the Dec. 16 election, compared with 16 percent for the ruling DPJ. The Nikkei cited a nationwide survey taken Nov. 16-18.

In a Bloomberg News poll of economists, all 21 economists surveyed expect BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa’s board to take no action at the policy meeting that ends tomorrow. At its last gathering on Oct. 30, the central bank increased asset purchases by 11 trillion yen. Shirakawa is due to step down in April.